Photo FAQ has nothing on it about copyright?

Question

I was just looking for wikitree's policy about not posting find-a-grave photos without permission.  I found the photo FAQ:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Photos_FAQ

There's absolutely nothing about copyright on this page. Seems like there should be a reference to not uploading photos for which we have no permission (and that includes find-a-grave photos).

Here's what werelate.org's help page about images says:

http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Help:Image_licensing

Comments

Thank you Jilliane, I just had this type incedent occur and was looking for something to cite to the user that uploaded the photo. This type of citation being made available could greatly reduce the "hurt feelings" factor of a necessary reversal of user's contributions.
-P Rich

---

PLEASE add something to the FAQ.  Someone, trying to be helpful, has been uploading photos to profiles of mine.  When I pointed him to G2G posts, he said that's just the individuals' opinions, not WikiTree policy.

---

Ellen, you can point him to the honor code which includes respecting copyrights.

---

You could also forward the person's message to info@wikitree.com and ask for their help.

Answer 1

Many of us have handed down family snapshots, yearbook pix, wedding pix &c. We might not even know who took the picture, but I always assume it's OK to post pictures taken by relatives who are gone. I guess I figure I inherited the rights to reproduce along with the photos themselves.

I do wonder about pictures found on ancestry.com from public records like, say, a passport application. It's a public record, but the digital copy is beyond a subscription wall. I've extracted pictures - in some cases the only picture I've ever seen of the person. I've put those on my ancestry tree, but not here. It is a public record, and I've also extracted, cropped and often tweaked in PhotoShop (mostly contrast & brightness adjustments) Same deal about pages from books long out of copyright, but digitized by others.

Comments

Regarding the image of a document downloaded from ancestry.  Ancestry may claim copyright on the *digital* copy of the image. You'd need to check. Alternatively-- and completely separate from the issue of copyright-- ancestry and other sites-- subscription-based or not-- may have user agreements/licenses that disallow cross posting or publishing of images from their site to other sites. There's even a state government site with such restrictions. You need to check the user agreement for the site you're downloading them from.

Answer 2

I have been noticing that more and more photo contributors at Find-A-Grave are placing permission in their personal bio's to alleiviate receiving so many emails.  A majority only request acknowledgement of their work.  A vast majority of emails I have sent to the contributors there are happy to share when asked first!  I normally post a comment on the photo for anyone who clicks to see it.  Normally, the photos I've used from these nice folks have something similar to:  ''This photo is used with extreme gratitude to Find-A-Grave contributor Name and Find-A-Grave ID number."

When looking at a photo at that site, click on the contributor's name to find their bio and see if they have granted permission to use it anywhere.  Even if they have granted permission and noted no credit is due they only want to help, we still give credit to them... see Honor Code part 7.

Answer 3

I agree with Jillaine, that there should be something on the photo help page about copyright. Even if it's a link to someone else's write-up on copyright. Photos have more complicated copyright issues than the written word does.

Comments

Two years later, still no text on this help page about permission. Isn't there someone available who can add the suggested text below?

Answer 4

Suggested text   Elements:

Make sure you have permission to upload the photo:

* you took the photo yourself

* the person who took the photo gave you permission to share it on wikitree

* the photo is in the public domain [link to definition of public domain photos]

You may not have permission to upload the photo if:

* you downloaded it from a commercial site such as ancestry.com or find-a-grave-.com check their user license agreements

* even non commercial sites may disallow public sharing of downloaded images;  for example Wisconsin Vital records;   Check their terms of use  

 

what else?

Comments

We should also include a link to:

http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2012/03/06/copyright-and-the-old-family-photo/

---

Here's a link to Ancestry.com's current terms of use:

http://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/termsandconditions

---

And here's a link to the discussion about Wisconsin vitals:

http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/104044/illegal-digital-copies-wisconsin-marriage-records-online

---

A question I had: If you have permission from the photographer of a FindAGrave photo, can you use it without violating the Ancestry.com user agreement?  To answer the question, I checked out FAG's site.

Here is a quote from the FAQ issued when FindAGrave became a whole owned subsidiary of Ancestry:

"Will contributors still retain copyright 'ownership' of their photos?
   •Find A Grave plans to continue its focus on honoring user's privacy and protecting their user generated content. As always, any photos you add to Find A Grave will remain yours and neither Find A Grave nor Ancestry.com will own them.
   •The current copyright policies of Find A Grave will remain in place. Contributors will retain copyright over any photos added to Find A Grave. It will still be wrong for someone to 'steal' a photo from Find A Grave and post it other websites as if it were their own."

So, I think the answer is Yes, you can use a FindAGrave photo, with permission of the owner.